(CEPAC, Suva, Fiji) – The Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed Most Reverend Ryan P. Jimenez, Bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, as the new Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam. The appointment was officially published on July 6, 2024 (12:00 noon CET Rome). The Installation Mass will be held on August 15, 2024, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna, Guam.
Archbishop-elect Jimenez is currently the President of CEPAC, the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (Conferentia Episcopalis Pacifici), and the Vice-President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania (FCBCO)—which is composed of the bishops conferences of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and CEPAC. He also serves as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Archbishop-elect Jimenez came as a migrant worker to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in 1995 and taught at Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, a Catholic school on the island of Rota. In 1999, he was accepted to the seminary program of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa; he was ordained to the priesthood on June 8, 2003. In 2010, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Chalan Kanoa and, in 2016, as its second bishop.
Archbishop-elect Jimenez began his studies and formation for the priesthood at St. Joseph Seminary College (high school department) in the Diocese of Dumaguete, Philippines. He then transferred to the college program of the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary in Quezon City, earning an undergraduate degree from the Ateneo de Manila University. Subsequently, he earned three advanced degrees from St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, California: Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB), Master of Divinity (MDiv), and Master of Arts in Theology (MA). In 2025, he expects to graduate from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York, with a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree.
Since March 28, 2023, the Very Reverend Romeo Convocar has served as the Apostolic Administrator of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña following the resignation of Archbishop Michael Byrnes due to health reasons.
